Wrecked Bronco Repair

[Dana]

Stopped by the body shop about 2 hrs ago..waiting on new brackets for the bumper. They had what they thought were the correct brackets. They were for the FRONT bumper.

Is the last frame crossmember, where the trailer hitch bolts on welded or bolted to the frame rails? My new Bronco had a U Haul 5’x9’ Utility Trailer w/gate hooked to factory hitch hit hard by tailgater, moved hitch 5” forward and twisted it. I don’t want a cut and weld repair that KILLS resale value. A repair like that must be disclosed. How best to handle???

Sponsored

 

[RoLyMa27]

Is the last frame crossmember, where the trailer hitch bolts on welded or bolted to the frame rails? My new Bronco had a U Haul 5’x9’ Utility Trailer w/gate hooked to factory hitch hit hard by tailgater, moved hitch 5” forward and twisted it. I don’t want a cut and weld repair that KILLS resale value. A repair like that must be disclosed. How best to handle???

In this picture it's on the frame rack. They use hydraulics to pull the frame back into place. Take it to a quality body shop. Yes, that cross member is where the hitch receiver is bolted on.

 

[Dana]

In this picture it's on the frame rack. They use hydraulics to pull the frame back into place. Take it to a quality body shop. Yes, that cross member is where the hitch receiver is bolted on.

I took it to a quality body man with a frame machine. He verified that the rear frame is distorted from the
stresses transferred through the factory trailer receiver, and informed me that his information relative to the new Bronco is that the frame material has increased levels of boron and conventional frame straightening is NOT RECOMMENDED, frame replacement is recommended. I dont want a frame replacement, it will take forever and kill the value of my Bronco. Any ideas??

 

[RoLyMa27]

I took it to a quality body man with a frame machine. He verified that the rear frame is distorted from the
stresses transferred through the factory trailer receiver, and informed me that his information relative to the new Bronco is that the frame material has increased levels of boron and conventional frame straightening is NOT RECOMMENDED, frame replacement is recommended. I dont want a frame replacement, it will take forever and kill the value of my Bronco. Any ideas??

Wow! Total frame replacement!?!? I don't see how your insurance wouldn't total it? Are you not using insurance? At this point you might as well try to get a new Bronco. Either way you go, IF you can get a body shop to straighten it or if they replace the whole frame the value of the Bronco is going to take a hit. It's going to show up on CarFax as a major repair with frame damage! This is a no win situation!

 

[Cornbred]

You’d think as they send them out into the world there would be a mechanism to provide some amount of replacement parts. The first day they out out in the wild there is risk of wrecks. 4 days in my case thanks to a drunk driver. So livid.

make sure you ask/demand deminished value. I’m always surprised at how many people get in accidents and never do. Some insurance companies do it without any issue but most don’t. I had my super duty for a month and was rear ended (just bumper, other car was totaled) dudes insurance flat out refused to pay me deminished value, acted like I made it up. They ended up paying it to me though.

 

[Dana]

Wow! Total frame replacement!?!? I don't see how your insurance wouldn't total it? Are you not using insurance? At this point you might as well try to get a new Bronco. Either way you go, IF you can get a body shop to straighten it or if they replace the whole frame the value of the Bronco is going to take a hit. It's going to show up on CarFax as a major repair with frame damage! This is a no win situation!

NOT MY INSURANCE COMPANY, the fellow who plowed into my trailer from behind placed me in the Good Hands of Allstate. This is a no-win situation if I cannot get Allstate to total my 190 mile Bronco. I will give it a good fight as I do not want to go thru a frame replacement that could take an eternity and will drag the value into the dumpster. I simply want to be made whole again, a new Bronco is the only way.

 

[RoLyMa27]

NOT MY INSURANCE COMPANY, the fellow who plowed into my trailer from behind placed me in the Good Hands of Allstate. This is a no-win situation if I cannot get Allstate to total my 190 mile Bronco. I will give it a good fight as I do not want to go thru a frame replacement that could take an eternity and will drag the value into the dumpster. I simply want to be made whole again, a new Bronco is the only way.

True, didn't think about it being the other persons insurance. Our Honda Civic (hit by a drunk guy while parked by the curb in front of a house) was totaled a few months back and the other persons insurance was Farm Bureau, they were great to work with. Now were working with State Farm and so far they have been good as well. The damages to our Bronco was 5,200 with light frame straightening. I can't see how this won't total with a total frame replacement, especially when you consider parts availability. Hopefully they total it and you can get some kind of adjustment for market value (due to ADM on almost all Bronco's right now) so you could find you a Bronco on a lot somewhere. I feel your pain Dana, this situation were in sucks!

 

[TX-Hans]

NOT MY INSURANCE COMPANY, the fellow who plowed into my trailer from behind placed me in the Good Hands of Allstate. This is a no-win situation if I cannot get Allstate to total my 190 mile Bronco. I will give it a good fight as I do not want to go thru a frame replacement that could take an eternity and will drag the value into the dumpster. I simply want to be made whole again, a new Bronco is the only way.

Of course the preference is to put the cost on the other driver's insurance company. You might consider hiring a "public adjuster" to work on your behalf so he/she can advocate for you with other driver's insurer and push the claim along. If that doesn't work, I suspect you have another option: presumably you have property collision insurance of your own on the Bronco. While not a preferable option, you could submit the claim to your own auto insurer under the collision coverage, have them inspect and adjust the damage claim, and ask them to subrogate against the other insurer to recover what they pay you on the claim. Your own insurer is likely to work more with you on the damage and how to repair (or total if needed).

Sponsored